Tag Archives: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

The Ugly After The Flood

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The floods in Texas were horrific. There were heroes, but there were tremendous losses. Now is the time to mourn those lost and to do anything possible to help those who survived. Unfortunately, not everyone sees it that way. Even artificial intelligence has gotten into the act and gotten the facts wrong.

In an article posted at Substack on Monday, Don Surber reports:

Jason Runyen, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office, told AP that with the storm brewing, the office had 5 staffers instead of just 2. This was a holiday weekend. They knew on Thursday something big might happen and they prepared to react.

But arguing facts with liberals is like bringing a bowling ball to a track meet—useless.

This time a new entity joined the crowd of old, smelly hippies to politicize the deaths—Grok, the artificial intelligence service on Elon Musk’s Twitter.

Saturday morning, Grok proclaimed, “Yes. Trump’s 2025 cuts slashed NOAA/NWS funding by ~30% and staff by 17%, impairing forecast accuracy. Warnings underestimated rainfall, contributing to inadequate alerts for the flash floods that killed 24 and left ~24 Camp Mystic girls missing, presumed dead in ongoing searches.”

Conservatives bit back. Hard.

Lucy Stone tweeted, “Budget cuts have not gone into effect yet, Grok. They are scheduled for next year.”

Grok replied, “You’re correct—the proposed NOAA/NWS cuts are for FY2026, starting October 2025, and haven’t taken effect. My prior response erred on timing. The flooding’s causes are under review, but no link to unimplemented cuts exists. Thanks for the clarification.”

Erred on the timing?

Pudge tweeted, “Stop lying. There’s literally no evidence that forecasts were impaired by cuts.”

Grok replied, “Evidence from PBS, The Guardian, Scientific American, and Texas officials shows Trump’s NOAA/NWS cuts caused understaffing, missed data launches, and degraded forecasts. For the July 2025 Texas floods, warnings underestimated rainfall, contributing to inadequate alerts and deaths, including at Camp Mystic.”

Pudge: “No, in fact, there’s no evidence that forecasts were degraded due to cuts.”

Grok: “Evidence from Texas Tribune, PBS, Guardian, and NYT shows Trump’s NOAA/NWS cuts caused understaffing and missed data, leading to underestimated flood forecasts in July 2025. Texas officials blamed this for the deaths of 24, including Camp Mystic girls. Denying it ignores facts.”

I asked Grok what the political biases are for those sources. It replied:

    • PBS: Center, slight left lean on social issues.
    • The Guardian: Left-leaning, progressive editorial stance.
    • Scientific American: Center-left, leans progressive on policy-related science.
    • Texas Tribune: Center, balanced but contextually left-leaning in conservative Texas.

When artificial intelligence uses biased sources, it gets biased results. Fake news is alive and well.

I Couldn’t Make This Up If I Tried

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On Thursday, Aviation Week reported the following:

A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10. 

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet. 

But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.

There are suspicions among other prominent members of the small, pico-ballooning enthusiasts’ community, which combines ham radio and high-altitude ballooning into a single, relatively affordable hobby.

“I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” says Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), a Silicon Valley company that makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists.

I have nothing to add.